Tight labour market continues to push up number of job vacancies

27 Jan 2014


SINGAPORE: The tight Singapore labour market continues to push up the number of job vacancies.

The latest Manpower Ministry figures show that vacancies stood at 61,900 in September 2013 -- 9.7 per cent more than a year before.

Consistent with prevailing trends, the services sector continued to generate the bulk of job openings, making up four in five of all vacancies in 2013.

Overall, there were openings across all occupational groups.

Commanding a quarter of total vacancies (14,530 vacancies) were positions for service and sales workers, like shop assistants, waiters and security guards.

This was followed by positions for associate professionals and technicians, which had 9,550 vacancies, or 17 per cent of all openings.

Positions for cleaners, labourers and related workers had 8,250 or 14 per cent of all openings, while professionals had 8,090 openings, also around 14 per cent.

By industry, manufacturing's share of vacancies remained broadly similar over the year at 13 per cent while vacancies in construction decreased from 7.5 per cent in 2012, to 6.4 per cent in 2013.

Six in ten of all openings were vacant for less than six months, while vacancies unfilled for extended periods of over six months held steady at four in ten.

The proportion of openings which had difficulty finding locals to fill were unchanged from a year ago -- at 66 per cent.

Employers cited unattractive pay and physically demanding tasks as the key reasons for Singaporeans not wanting to fill many lower-skilled occupations.

[So with the tightening of foreign labour, vacancies increased by 9.7%. Vacancies in sales assts, waiters - over 14,000; in cleaning & labour - over 8,000; with 9,500 assoc professionals and technicians (which may include nurses, and medical technicians), and over 8,000 professionals, which may include doctors. ]